How to Have a Super Power Memory. Part 1 - Memorising Lists

This is the 1st part in a series in which you will learn techniques to enable you to pull off the most amazing feats of memory. Today you will become adept at memorising lists of just about any length you like. I will be using as an example all the American Presidents (44 of them). By the time you have finished this you will be able to list from memory all 44 of them in order! Pay attention as there may be a quiz at the end ;).

Now, as we go through the list of 44 presidents we will be creating a link between each name and the next one. So if you remember the 1st, the link will aid you in remembering the 2nd, the next link will get you to remember the 3rd and so on until you remember all 44.

OK, the 1st president is George Washington (obviously) and he was followed by John Adams. So how do we create a link between these two? Here's a suggestion:- George Washington can be associated with the Dollar bill; when I hear the name Adams I may immediately think of the TV show 'The Addams Family'. So I might picture Lurch from the Addams family going to the John and unravelling a toilet roll which isn't made of ordinary toilet paper but dollar bills all woven together. It doesn't matter that the Addams family is spelt differently from John Adams, you'll just know the right spelling when it comes to recalling it. The important thing is that we have made an association between George Washington (in the form of a dollar bill) and John Adams (in the form of Lurch from the Addams family going to the John) by picturing Lurch unravelling a toilet roll consisting of dollar bills. To make this association stronger have the theme tune to 'The Addams Family' playing in your mind while you picture in your mind's eye Lurch unravelling that roll made of dollars.

Next is Thomas Jefferson. Hmmm, what could we picture for that. If we could remember Jeffer the rest would follow but what's a Jeffer? How about a Jaffa as in Jaffa oranges (I bet you were wondering what that picture of oranges was doing there). It doesn't matter that Jaffa isn't exactly the same as Jeffer, it's near enough to prompt your memory, all we have to do now is make a ridiculous association between Lurch (from 'The Addams Family') and Jaffa oranges. Perhaps there are thousands of Jaffa oranges lying on the floor and Lurch slips on them and falls on to his back with a tremendous thump (hear that thump). Then several more oranges fall on top of Lurch, thump, thump, thump. You already had Lurch in your mind because of the link with Washington and the dollar bill. Now you you are linking John Adams (via Lurch of 'The Addams Family') to Thomas Jefferson (via Lurch falling on Jaffa oranges). Most people would automatically link the name Thomas with Jefferson because of the familiarity of the full name, but if Thomas doesn't come to you straight away you could maybe think of Tom the cat from the Tom and Jerry cartoons falling on Lurch in and amongst those oranges.

Now you have the basic idea we'll start rattling through the rest. After Thomas Jefferson was James Madison. Think of the boy from the Front of 'Mad Magazine' manically cutting open thousands of Jaffa oranges and filling them with Jam (James), that's a pretty Mad thing to do. He's opening one pot of jam after another but when he opens up one of them a miniature Marilyn Monroe pops out of that jam pot covered in jam because our next president is James Monroe. Startled, she flies off to the john and is spotted by Lurch from The Addams family and TV pathologist Quincy (or maybe you associate the name Quincy with the singer Quincy Jones, either way John Quincy Adams is our next president) who chase her to the John but she slams the door in their faces (violent) before they can grab hold of her.

Quincy and Lurch find themselves transported to a field where they are sitting in front of easels drawing a picture of a giant playing card propped up in front of them. The playing card is a Jack. Quincy and Lurch Andrew a Jackson. Andrew Jackson is our next president. We next see the Jack (still a giant playing card) in a van, trying to wrest control of the steering wheel with a Martian (it's the Martian's van). The van swerves violently from side to side, hits a ramp and flies off into the air where it is swallowed up by a giant bear. Martian Van Bear in. Our next president is Martin Van Buren. The van is closely followed by a will (maybe picture a legal document) a hen (hear it clucking away) and a hairy male baby boy (a hairy son). That baby's really hairy because our next president is William Henry Harrison. It's all too much for the bear who immediately regurgitates the will, the hen and the hairy son. They land with a thump, thump, thump back in the john. The hairy son has a look around at his new environment and decides it could do with a bit of decorating. Luckily he's a qualified tiler (he's been on a course you know) so he gets to it straight away, manically tiling the bathroom. John Tyler is our next president.

OK, we've done our 1st 10 presidents. Starting with George Washington~ Dollar bill ~ toilet roll of dollar bills unravelled by Lurch (Addams family) ~ John Adams~ Lurch slips up on and is bombarded by Jaffa oranges (& Tom the cat) ~ Thomas Jefferson ~ oranges filled with jam by boy from Mad magazine ~ James Madison ~ Marilyn Monroe emerges from pot of jam and is covered in jam ~ James Monroe ~ she flies off to John pursued by TV pathologist Quincy and Lurch (Addams) ~ John Quincy Adams ~ Quincy & Lurch drew pictures of the Jack playing card ~ Andrew Jackson ~ the Jack tried to wrest control of the martians van which flew in to the bear ~ Martin Van Buren ~ followed by a will a hen and a hairy baby son ~ William Henry Harrison ~ regurgitated by the bear they end up back in the john where the hairy baby decides to do a bit of tiling ~ John Tyler.

James Knox Polk is next. We need to link this to the tiles, so how about imagining that you are knocking a pile of polka dot transfers on to the tiles using a jar of jam. Hear the knocking, imagine thinking "I'd better not knock too hard or I'll smash the jar of jam". So we have linked John Tyler to James Knox Polk.

Zachary Taylor is next (at last! An unusual 1st name). Zachary could be shortened to Zack which sounds a bit like sack. We need to link this name to polka dots. maybe a tailor (picture him with a measuring tape round his shoulders and a needle in his mouth with a bit of cotton hanging down) is making a polka dot skirt out of sack cloth. Picture the tailor cutting up the sack cloth and sewing the polka dots on to it.

Millard Fillmore is next. Imagine having a sack (linking to Zack) full of Millardand having to fill it up with more lard. You have a stack of lard bursting through the ceiling becuase it's one mile high and you have to fill that sack with more lard. Imagine that sack filled to the brim but you're packing in more and more lard. Feel the pressure on your arm as you pack it in. Watch the lard oozing out of the packaging as you use more pressure. See that lard oozing out of the sides of that sack.

Franklin Pierce. Any lard that you have left over has to be taken over to a desk to be franked (don't ask me why, it just does right?). You take a big pile of lard to the desk where a clerk franks each packet, banging down so hard on them with the franking stamp that the lard squishes out all over you. You're so annoyed that you pierce the clerk in the eye with a needle (you really have an anger management issue to sort out)! The clerk falls backwards out of the chair in agony - hear him scream!

James Buchanan.Blood pours out of the poor clerk's eyes. So incensed is the clerk on this attack that he decides to take revenge. Out from a side room he pulls out a great big heavy cannon, lights the fuse and boom, fires a giant pot of jam at you which knocks you through the wall and outside. Hear the boom of the cannon.

Abraham Lincoln. There's no need to create alternative images with this president, the name invokes an image all by itself, like the image of him sitting, crosslegged in his chair. But he's just been knocked backwards in his chair by you crashing through the wall and landing right on him.

Andrew Johnson. You apologise profusely, help Mr Lincoln back to an upright position and let him get on with what he was attending to. In fact he was just finishing off a drawing of a toilet, he andrew a johnson.

Ulysses Simpson Grant or just Ulysses S Grant.You think this picture might be worth something, so you snatch it and run off down the street (you're turning into a bit of a delinquent aren't you?). Eventually you find an art shop where you think you might be able to sell it. You show it to the dealer who cast's his (or her) eyes over it. For some strange reason the picture is covered with hundreds of letter C's. "You need less c's" the dealer says, "But you (an)drew (because he thinks you drew it) a fine picture of a john(son), I'll grant you that".

Rutherford Hayes. The dealer agrees to take the drawing and gives you the rudder of a boat in exchange. That too is covered with many impressions of the letter c for some strange reason (the reason being of course, is that you are creating a link between U(need) less C's and Rudder(ford) or Rutherford). Perplexed by this rather strange deal you come over all dizzy and collapse on to the floor; everything is a bit of a haze (Hayes).

James A Garfield. Whilst lying on the floor, still in a bit of a haze (Hayes) with one hand clutching on your newly acquired rudder, you notice that you are being licked on the face by the rough tongue of the cartoon cat Garfield. In fact he's licking off jam. You can feel the cold texture of the jam and the rough texture of Garfields tongue on your face. Jam(es) and Garfield.

Give yourself a pat on the back, you have just linked presidents 1 to 20.

Chester Alan Arthur is our 21st president. We need to link him to James Garfield. Imagine Garfield the cartoon cat constructing a flat pack chest(er) of drawers with the aid of an allen key (visualise Garfield getting a bit frustrated because he's finding it difficult to hold that allen key with his paws). When Garfield's finished he looks admiringly at his handiwork when a sword falls from the sky and embeds itself in the top of his chest of drawers. Annoyed, he tries to remove the sword but try as he might he can't do it. Picture in your minds eye Garfield standing on top of the chest of drawers, pulling at the sword with all his might, tears of sweat flying from his face. Along comes King Arthur and pulls out the sword with ease (because it is Excalibur).

Grover Cleveland. King Arthur may have been to some weird and wonderful lands on his adventures but surely nowhere so strange as Grow Fur Cliff Land. A land where cliffs of fur grow vertically out of the ground. He'll need that sword to hack his way through. Visualise King Arthur swinging his sword to hack his way through all that fur.

Benjamin Harrison. Not only did Grover Cleveland precede him as president but he succeeded him as well. So we need to visualise something that will remind us that Benjamin Harrison is sandwiched between 2 Grover Clevelands. We welcome back our hairy son, he's been jammed in between 2 fur growing cliffs. Visualise fur growing from the cliff to the left and fur growing from the cliff to the right. He's eating his favourite delicacy, beans in jam, a great big plate of it. Suddenly he realises his predicament and resigned to his fate he starts frantically writing his will, but before he can finish it a gust of wind blows it out of his hands.

Grover Cleveland (again) - we made the association for that above.

William McKinley. The will blows away, up beyond the fur cliffs, picking up a bit of fur on the way. Eventually it wafts in through the window of a lawyers office and on to his desk. the lawyer sees that there is fur on it and remarks "ah! That must have come from Grow Fur Cliff Land". The lawyer starts to read the will but all it says is "I leave my kin the...". There's nothing much the lawyer can do with that will, so he frames it and hangs it on the wall and if anyone ever asks him what it is he says it's the Will(iam) my kin the (William McKinley is our next president).

Theodore Roosevelt. He's a lawyer that his rituals. In the same way that some people touch a rabbits foot for good luck, he has a rose pinned to the inside of his office door which he always touches for good luck as he leaves for the day, it's known as the door rose. So, having finished work for the day and the door rose felt (Theodore Roosevelt) he leaves, safe in the knowledge that a link has been made to another president.

William Taft. The lawyer's office now empty. the door rose is left to contemplate what happened to her life. Now she only has wills for company but she remembers the days from living in the garden when she was best freinds with a tuft of grass. She wonders what that tuft of grass is doing now. Imagine a rose having a conversation with a tuft of grass.

Woodrow Wilson. Meanwhile, back in the garden the tuft of grass is missing his freind the rose and decides to go off and find her. The tuft of grass hops along, jumps over the garden fence and in to the woods. The trees in the woods have been planted in nice neat rows which leaves the tuft of grass a clear straight path to hop along. The tuft of grass thinks how forunate it is that the trees in this wood have been planted in rows so that he can make good progress hopping along the straight path but asks himself how much faster he would be if he had wheels on. Imagine a tuft of grass with wheels on (thus making the connection between William Taft and Woodrow Wilson).

Warren Harding.The tuft of grass can't find any wheels because elsewhere in the wood the rabbits are out foraging for any wheels they can find and taking them back to their warren where they are hoarding them. Warren hoarding / Warren Harding, linked to elsewhere in the wood(row) & wheels(on).

Calvin Coolidge. Lets take a journey into the rabbits warren, an underground network of interconnected passages. Here and there one might see a rabbit going about it's business. The passages are quite narrow however, you come across a large cavern. It's dark and you here a 'moo' sound coming from somewhere. When your eyes have adjusted you can see a calf on a ledge. The ledge appears to be made of ice so it is very cool; it is a cool ledge. Calf on cool ledge / Calvin Coolidge (linked to Warren).

Herbert Hoover. The calf was licking a big bowl of sherbert but sneezed and the sherbert went all over the place. No worries, there's a man who's jumped up onto that ledge with a hoover to clean it all up. It's a bit of a squeeze up there on that ledge with a calf, a big bowl of sherbert and a man with a hoover.

Franklin D Roosevelt. Hang on a minute, I recognize that man from somewhere! When he finishes his hoovering, he returns to his office where I can see him in a better light; yes, that's him allright, the franking clerk whose eye I poked and he's got a big bandage over his eye; I hope he doesn't recognise me (maybe as he's only got one eye, I might get away with it). He doesn't seem to notice me as he's concentrating on his work. He's still into franking but he's moved on from lard, this time he's franking a big rose made out of felt. He's franking the rose felt (Franklin D Roosevelt).

Harry S Truman. The franking clerk has grown his hair and a beard since the last time I saw him, so that makes him truly hairy. Actually, this clerk struck me as being a bit sexually ambiguous the 1st time I saw him, but now that he's grown a beard I can see that he's a true man, he's a hairy true man. But a hairy true man with only one eye. I wonder where hairy true man's other eye is now.

Dwight D Eisenhower. I look to my right and see a clock. I notice the eye (which is mainly white in colour) is in the hour hand. (The)d'wight (D) eye's in (the) hour hand.

John F Kennedy. Like Lincoln, JFK evokes his own image, perhaps of that last fateful day sitting in that car next to Jaqui O in Dallas. To make the link with Eisenhower, link that image with the hour hand with the eye in it (eye's in hour). Instead of being hit with bullets, he's hit with a couple of hour hands (like arrows) with eyes in them.

Lyndon B Johnson. The car speeds of to the hospital. When it gets there Kennedy, still conscious is determined to go to the bathroom. Inside the bathroom he is confronted by 2 johns, john A and john B (they have big letters "A" and "B" above them just to let you know which one's john A and which one's john B). Kennedy stumbles over to john B and leans on it. He's leaned on B John (Lyndon B Johnson). To make a strong link, picture JFK leaning on john "B".

Richard M Nixon. The M stands for Milhouse, which will be a useful vehicle for making links as this reminds me of the character Milhouse from the Simpsons. So into the bathroom comes the cartoon character Milhouse and decides to inspect the 2 johns. John "A" :- pristine condition, john "B",? Well , Milhouse notices that the ceramic has been chipped in places, you could say that john "B" has nicks on it (thus linking B John(son) to Milhouse & nicks on / Nixon).

Gerald Ford. Milhouse announces he has to leave as he has a lift waiting for him. He goes outside where the cartoon mouse Jerry from 'Tom & Jerry' is sitting at his Ford (choose any model of Ford you like) waiting for him. It's Jerry's Ford. Milhouse jumps into the passenger seat.

Jimmy Carter. Jerry's Ford car zooms off but doesn't get very far when one of the wheels falls off. They're in some remote, god forsaken place where time seems to have stood still, in fact it feels like they're back in the 19th century, as the only place that can replace his wheel is an old carter's workshop. So they stop there, where Jimmy Carter himself replaces the wheel to Jerry's Ford with an old cart wheel (It looks rather odd on a Ford).

Ronald Reagan. The car speeds off without paying. Enraged Jimmy Carter pulls out a ray gun and fires repeatedly. See the fluorescent light of the ray emerging from the gun that Jimmy Carter fires. Picture Jimmy Carter firing rays out of that gun to make the link between Jimmy Carter and Ronald ray gun.

George Bush Snr, Bill Clinton, George W Bush. The rays miss and instead, singes the leaves of an old bush infact, a senior bush, it has bi-focal glasses and a walking stick. See the bits of ash floating about, the remnants of the singed leaves. Next to the senior bush is his son, a smaller, greener bush in the shape of a 'W' (for it is dubya). From the sky lands a big ton weight, hear it whistling through the sky as it falls and then thump! as it falls between the two bushes. The ton weight is all new, shiny and clean. it is a clean ton (Clinton) and it sits between the 2 bushes.

And last but not least Barack Obama. You might be surprised to learn that Barack Obama has a sneaking admiration for George Dubya Bush (NO!). If you sneak along to the White House at the dead of night you might catch Barack Obama in the White House garden with a pair of shears indulging in his favourite hobby, topiary. You can see him shaping a bush into the shape of a 'W' in homage to his predecessor.

And that's it, all 44 presidents.

So, effectively learning lists of Presidents, baseball champions etc might be great if you're a quizzer but is it of any more use than that? You bet it is, in situations where you can't bring in any notes, like a job interview for example. Write down a list of all the things you want the interviewers to know you know (including some things you didn't previously know). Turn the items on the list into things you can visualise and make the ridiculous associations to link them all together. Amaze the panel with your depth of knowledge, have a ready answer for any question you may have anticipated and walk into that interview room with increased confidence.

Making a speech? Link together all the key points (let one naturally lead to the next) and wow your audience by making a speech without any notes or prompter. I would suggest practicing it a few times 1st though!

As a study aid. The list of things you can use it for are endless, from memorising the periodic table to learning a foreign language.